Solargraph from Kerry

Margaret Fitzgerald

There are still a few more solargraphs to collect. The one above came from Keel in Co. Kerry - thanks to the collaborators there. It is a really interesting image to look at, as the horizon is repeated twice. This probably happened because the camera was moved during the period of exposure - another happy accident. I haven't got the exact details of the period of exposure and must chase this up.

More Thanks You s

I got a lot of support this year so I want to say thank you to DIT Staff, Ber Burns, Majella O'Neill Collins, Marc Holden, Brian Fay, John Mayock, Patricia Hurl and Tim Stott.

All at Sherkin Island Development Society, especially, Dan Reilly, Maggie Reilly and Matthew Stephens.

Gillian Treacy of St Johns Central College, Cork.

Resource agencies were also very helpful in particular Katherine Atkinson, CREATE and Ann O'Connor Arts Council of Ireland.

Thank you all.

Commercial Sponsors

Now that the assessments are over I can begin to start thanking all the people who supported me in my work during the year. Today I am thanking my commercial sponsors who helped me with in kind support.

Nick Walsh of Acme Blinds donated a roll of white blackout blind fabric, which was used in the Pinhole Car Camera Project and also for the graduate assessment installation.

Dave Madden of Maddens TV lent me audiovisual equipment for the the graduate assessment installation - I didn't get to use it this time because the weather was so bad and I didn't want to risk the equipment getting damaged as the journey involved car- ferry - taxi and then the same in reverse - but maybe next time?

Thank you both.

BA Visual Art Graduate Assessments

Phew I am glad thats over! Final assessments were held last week for the seven fourth year students. Our work was on display for assessment in the Sherkin Community Hall, and in two private studios on the Island.

The period leading up to our assessments was intense. The drama was exacerbated by storm force winds that resulted in cancelled ferries and falling electricity lines.

Our work was assessed on Friday 23rd February by a team of Lecturers from DIT. This was followed by individual interview with our extern examiner Helen O'Donoghue, Head of Education & Community Programmes, at IMMA.

On Sunday 24th February there was an open house invite to all Islanders to come and see the work, which proved to be a very relaxed and sociable event.

Now we look forward to receiving our individual grades, a very special graduation day, a group exhibition at the West Cork Arts Centre and exhibiting with the 2009 DIT graduates based in Mountjoy Square, Dublin.

Last of the Solargraphs from Finland

Michael Stephens 28-09-08 21-12-08

Michael Stephens 28- 09-08 21-12-08

Tara O'Donoghue 28-09-08 21-12-08

These are the last of the unprocessed 35mm film cannisters I sent to Finland. I think the results do warrant the wait. There seems to be more colour in some of the images and this may be down to the use of different scanners - another piece of research for the future.

I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in the project - it was great working with all you pinholers.

Thanks to the Arts Council who funded the project through the Artist in the Community Scheme managed by Create. Katherine Atkinson was a great support there, Tarja Trygg of the University of Art & Design, Helsinki and last but not least Sherkin Island Development Society and their development worker Matthew Stephens.

Solargraphs returned from Finland

Tarja Trygg from the University of Art & Design, Helsinki returned the first batch of solargraphs sent to her after the winter solstice. These solargraphs were taken using plastic 35mm film cannisters and I could sit and look at them for hours.

Maggie O'Reilly 28-09-08 21-12-08

Jo Jefferies 28-09-08 21-12-08

Sherkin Island National School, Senior Class 03-10-08 21-12-08

Sherkin Island National School, Senior Class 03-10-08 21-12-08

Kordula Packard 28-09-08 21-12-08

There are two possible explanations why there are no sun tracks . a) the film cannister was was probably pointing too far north to catch the sun, or b) if it was facing south, it has too much foreground and not enough sky to catch the sun's path.

Sheila O'Sullivan 28-06-08 21-12-08

Sheila O'Sullivan 28-06-08 21-12-08

Sue O'Hanlon 20-06-08 21-12-08

Cork Film Centre

A big thank you to Maximilian le Cain at the Cork Film Centre for his help in editing Epiphany - I had done several drafts in Windows Movie Maker, but my computer kept crashing - it couldn't cope with the resource overhead. Max was able to take my image and sound files and put them through Final Cut Pro to give them a really good finish and I am really grateful. Thanks Max!

Collaboration has been a really great part of this project, I couldn't have done it without so many supportive and talented people.

Sherkin Island Solargraphy

We had a great day yesterday and were very excited to finally reveal the solargraphs that had been exposing since late September.

Terry Farnell

Micheal Stephens

Tara O'Donoghue

Conor O'Riordan

Sherkin Island Artist in the Community Workshop 4th January 2009

The last workshop in this series will be held next Sunday. Looking back to last September its hard to believe how much has been achieved in such a short time.

• making pinhole cameras
• learning basic dark room techniques
• printing some great images
  
• setting out solargraph cans
• portraiture session with the old meagher camera

Whats next ? Well, I have already collected and scanned some solargraphs which are really impressive. Next Sunday I hope to scan the rest of them and put them up on the web.

I will collect and send the remaining 35mm film cans to Finland for the Global Map of Solargraphy project.

If people are willing we can turn the dispensary into a darkroom for one last pinhole session.

I am preparing documentation of our work, so we can spend some time selecting favourite images to be included in the photobook.

So a busy day on Sunday and looking forward to it.